Conference Series on Aging in the America: United States and Mexico

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的一系列会议研讨会旨在提高对墨西哥裔人口老龄化研究的可见度，并且正值该主题成为关键的国家预算和政策问题之际。该提案的优势在于，系列会议和配套的一系列研讨会首次汇集了新兴的研究成果，这些研究表明，社会、心理和生物因素如何深刻地影响墨西哥裔人晚年的健康和长期护理。会议系列的一个重要目标是确定西班牙裔在健康、残疾和疾病行为方面的差异。健康差异是复杂和多方面的，理解它们意味着掌握生物学和行为之间的交叉点，这是一个相对被广泛接受的信条。因此，我们希望开始对独特的情景因素和文化行为进行跨学科的讨论，这些因素和文化行为相互作用，影响墨西哥裔美国人的健康和功能。沿着这些跨学科线的研究将告知与疾病预防相关的特定公共卫生干预措施，并确定公共卫生系统的改进，以保护西班牙裔老年人的健康。会议系列的最终目标是就确保美国墨西哥裔个人健康老龄化的最佳方法达成共识。西班牙裔，尤其是墨西哥裔，正在重塑美国的人口构成。由于来自墨西哥和其他拉丁美洲国家的大量移民，以及与非西班牙裔白人和非洲裔美国人相比更高的生育率，西班牙裔是美国增长最快的人口群体（Tienda和Mitchell， 2006）。2000年，拉美裔成为美国最大的少数族裔。拉美裔人口已经达到3600万人，占美国人口的近13%。在这3600万人口中，墨西哥裔西班牙人占了一半以上（美国人口普查局，2003年）。此外，西班牙裔人口正在老龄化，由于他们的健康问题和长期医疗需求，这一群体的健康和福祉正迅速成为一个关键的公共政策问题（Angel和Hogan， 2004年）。一系列会议的重点是增加对墨西哥裔人口老龄化过程的学术研究，这是至关重要的。我们相信这个会议系列将对知识库做出实质性的贡献，填补对美国老年人研究不足的信息的重大真空。该系列的共识目标将为美国国立卫生研究院2010年健康人倡议提供信息，该倡议旨在制定国家卫生目标，以确定对健康最重大的可预防威胁，并制定减少这些威胁的国家目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed series of Conference workshops aims at increasing the visibility of research on aging Mexican- origin people and comes at a time when the topic is emerging as a crucial national budget and policy issue. The strength of the proposal is that the Conference Series and accompanying set of workshops bring together, for the first time, emerging research that demonstrates how social, psychological, and biological factors profoundly impact the health and long-term care of Mexican-origin people in late life. An important objective of the Conference Series is to identify disparities in Hispanic health, disability, and illness behavior. It is a relatively well-accepted tenet that health disparities are complex and multifaceted, and to understand them means grasping the intersection between biology and behavior. Thus, we hope to begin an interdisciplinary discussion of the unique situational factors and cultural behaviors that interact to impact the health and functioning of aging Mexican Americans. Research along these interdisciplinary lines will inform specific public health interventions related to disease prevention and identify improvements to public health systems that will protect the health of aging Hispanics. The ultimate objective of the Conference Series is to develop a consensus on the best means of insuring healthful aging of individuals of Mexican ancestry in the United States. Hispanics, especially those of Mexican ancestry, are re-shaping the demographic composition of the U.S. Hispanics are the fastest growing demographic group in the country, due to high immigration from Mexico and other Latin American countries, as well as higher fertility rates compared with non-Hispanic Whites and African-Americans (Tienda and Mitchell, 2006). In 2000, Hispanics became the nation's largest minority category. The Hispanic population has reached 36 million people, representing nearly 13 percent of the U.S. population. Mexican-origin Hispanics represent over half of that 36 million (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). Moreover, the Hispanic population is aging, and as a result of their health issues and long-term medical needs, the health and wellbeing of this group is fast becoming a critical public policy concern (Angel and Hogan, 2004). A Conference Series focused specifically on increasing scholarly research into the aging process of the Mexican-origin population is vital. We believe this Conference Series will make a substantive contribution to the knowledge base, filling a significant vacuum of information on an understudied group of aging Americans. The consensus objective of the Series will inform the NIH Healthy People 2010 initiative to create national health objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable threats to health and to establish national goals to reduce these threats.